Super Show Weighs Gains, Losses Of Leaving Atlanta For Vegas

One of the country's most high-profile trade shows, the Super Show sporting-goods extravaganza, was the biggest single coup in recent memory for the Las Vegas convention industry when show organizers decided to hold their 2001, 2002 and 2003 events in the city after 10 years in Atlanta.

Are they glad they did? The answer appears to be yes, with some caveats.

The fact that the show, with 78,000 attendees and 1,850 exhibitors this year, Jan. 21-23, had gotten too large for Atlanta coincided with the fact that attendees, exhibitors and show directors were ready for a change, said Hardy Katz, show director and a vice president at Show Management Inc., the company that runs The Super Show for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

"We thought Las Vegas was a very good move when we outgrew Atlanta," Katz said. "It gave us a fresh new look and brought in new people that normally didn't travel to the East Coast."

Added Stanley Schwartz, show director and president of Show Management, "In Vegas our attendance went up. Vegas claims you'll always draw better attendance there, and we did. We also drew better from Asia."

And then there's price.

"An attendee, if he wanted to, could spend $29 a night in Las Vegas," said Schwartz. "We had people who paid $170 for three nights, and that's a big draw. Of course, the amount of rooms available is a huge factor for a big show."

One attendee, Mickey Newsome, president and CEO of Hibbett Sporting Goods in Birmingham, Ala., remarked, "In Las Vegas, there are a lot more hotel rooms close to the show. Las Vegas also has a much more convenient layout than Atlanta, and the food is better because there is so much to choose from."

For Kathy Marlow, trade marketing manager for Atlanta-based Russell Athletic, Vegas is nothing new, since her company exhibits at lots of shows there. But she's happy to go. "Las Vegas established itself as a convention city and tourist town a long time ago, and the attitude about service is so much better than any other place we go," she said.

Vegas fell behind Atlanta with regard to two factors: intimacy, because there is so much to distract attendees in Vegas; and rental rates.

"We used both the Sands Convention Center and the Vegas Convention Center, and when you use two facilities, rent is going to be higher in one, and then it's hard to charge exhibitors the same rates," said Schwartz.

The Super Show will be in Las Vegas for one more year, then on to Orlando for three years. No decision has been made about 2007-2009, but Las Vegas and Atlanta are both in the running, according to Katz.